burgers n' weed

I like Ngaio's new weed column.  He's a good standup comedian too, although I've seen him do a really similar act at least 4 times, including once at Shenanigans that about 4 people were watching, which seemed to make him pretty mad.  I'm going to submit a question right now.  I'll let you know if it gets answered.

I used the Nationwide coupon from the SNR on Sunday.  I love Nationwide! I don't like to argue about the perfect burger because I believe there are different perfect burgers for different burger moods.  This is my neighborhood burger mood.

Speaking of coupons, not just to shill for the SNR but the issue with Jerry Brown on the front, which I think is still out, has a ton of good coupons.  Some of them don't expire.  I think I will use the 2 for 1 Hamburger Mary's one, just like I lived on in the old, super poor days.  I love HM's fries.  Love! Fun burger fact: I have never eaten anything but a garden burger at HM's.  I have no desire to eat their mystery meat.

Thiemann's TV dinner

The TV dinner at the Verge (Nov 8th) gets a writeup in the Bee.  I love how Mike C.'s name is linked, but if you follow the link, you don't actually get anything else.

Foxworthy style

The Grateful Dead night did not live up to my dreams. It was almost entirely taken over by yelling about the 49ers game. I mean, there was a lot of overlap between football fans and Deadheads, but still. And the Rubicon had absolutely nothing good on tap. I did get the idea for a Jeff Foxworthy-style bit (see above, this clip is awesome because of the girl laughing in the background, also the TV joke is one of my faves, classic)  called You Might Be A Deadhead.  I need some help, please.  Here's my only one right now:
If tie dye is your favorite color...you might be a Deadhead.

Also not impressed with the Golden Bear in general.  Any defenders out there?

We Blow Dumb

All right, I wouldn't normally post a picture of myself not wearing pants but I'm pretty proud of my Halloween costume considering I only thought of it the day of the party I was going to.  He played in Oakland on Friday so I'm sure I'm probably not the only one who thought of it.

DUDES! The Rubicon is bringing back their Grateful Dead night in honor of their 25th anniversary! Tonight! I'll be there.  I'm hoping it's so successful that they bring it back as a permanent feature.

English Singles had an off-the-chain show on Friday at the Pole Line house.  This is a great new house.  Well, actually the show was completely off the chain before the Singles played, and then the cops came and then half the people left, and then they all came back just as the Singles were ending.  Typical Singles luck.  However, the kids still went crazy and hoisted Smiller aloft while he was singing.  He reclined and looked very casual

English! Singles! Tonight!

At the Pole Line house in Davis

Punks Sing The Banana's Nautical Theme On A Cruise

Did you guys ever see this? Some people covered Nautical at a talent show on a cruise ship

hungry

 I bought the Michael Ruhlman 20 recipes book, not because I know who he is, but for his chicken recipe because people kept writing about it and it is, indeed, the bomb.  And the easiest.  I'll give it to you.

First, let your chicken sit out for at least an hour, which you should always do so the inside won't be cold. I'm sure you know that.   "Rain down" salt on the bird, like really rain it down. Coarse salt.  Either truss the legs or put a lemon or onion in the cavity (I went with a scored lemon). 

A huge part of the appeal of this recipe for me is that you roast it in a cast iron pan.  I love using cast iron for everything.  If you want to make a pan sauce for the bird, snip off the wing tips and put them in the pan, and throw the neck in, too.

Pre heat oven to 450.  Throw in the bird, breast side up, for an hour.  That's it.  4 pound bird or slightly smaller.

 I accidentally paid 8 bucks for these potatoes at Whole Foods but at least they were really good roasted with thyme and whole cloves of garlic.

 Here's the chicken.  Dude, the skin!!!!!!! That black looking stuff is thyme, not pubic hair.  That's what this chicken is all about, a huge sheet of crispy, salty golden skin.  And juicy breasts.  However, you do sacrifice the quality of the dark meat.  The tops of the legs get overcooked, but the thighs are fine.

Ugly picture of delicious sauce.  You  just make a gravy by reducing the pan leftovers a bunch of times with wine and water, adding onions and carrots.  Fuck this was good.  I gotta try some more recipes from this book.

TV Dinner video made by Ryan D.

King Tuff loves Sac

I tried a place last night that I am psyched to review.  I won't give out the name, but it is close to The Mushroom cocktail lounge, which, sadly, looked like it has closed down.



Crap, King Tuff is playing Bows when I'm outta town.  Oh well, I'm happy for Bows and Clay, who booked it.  Harlows was such a rager I doubt it could be topped.  But I really am soooo bummed.  Have fun at it, rest-of-the-world.


Don't forget that TV dinner!! Buy tickets at the link that's listed!! Mike T. really wants his friends to be there most of all!

KZAP radio commercial from 1985

TV dinner

Do you guys know about this yet?  I urge you to go.  Mike Thiemann is teaming up with Verge and Edible Mag, with the generous support of the Selland family to serve a wild dinner that is going to based around a 60s TV vibe.  The dinner will be based on TV dinners and will include multiple courses and cocktails mixed by Chris Dolley, Ella's bartender.  TV dinners became my family's jam when the coherence of the family unit was disintegrating (my teen years) so I have pretty strong memories of them and associate them with sadness.  They are pretty much sadness in a tray.  Add to that my chubbiness and my savoring of the mac and cheese and apple crisp portions to get a clear picture.  Come to think of it, I'm eating an Amy's organic lunch in my jail cell-like breakroom today so perhaps I have not come so far after all.

P.S.-there's a visiting scholar from Brazil at my work today who taught himself to speak English from watching Friends.  He keep calling me Smelly Cat.

rare hand-screened Bananas shirt

Don''t miss out on the auction for the rare Vintage Bananas shirt on ebay.  It is currently going for 21 bucks with 10 bids.  Hand screened is a pretty funny claim.  Like, as opposed to factory screened?

English Singles have two shows this week the one of Friday is at Poleline house, which is a new house to me.  If anyone wants to take the train to Davis for this show, I can probably pick you up and take you there and  be designated driver home, so people let me know.  I have room for a few, and this will be a good show.  House shows are the best! 

On Saturday they're playing in Stockton which is pretty darn cool but I don't know if I can go because I have a lot of writing to do.  This is my way of breaking this to smiller.

 I am bummed to miss Phil's thing at the Midtown Village Cafe this Friday because Christine Shields is playing.  As I've said before her  LP is super good (hope she brings some to sell) and it is PERFECT for today's weather.  In fact I will listen to it when I get home.  I harnessed the mighty power of the News and Review this week to promote his Friday night gigs, which brought...no one.  Sigh.  Is everyone just turning straight to Ask Joey?

Speaking of the SNR, I was soooo surprised that The Grange has quietly gotten really good.  I want to try their ribeye with red wine butter.  I have had some really crappy meals there before the new chef, including a mediocre breakfast and a dinner with the weirdest service I have ever experienced.  They literally left the menus on the table in the way the entire dinner, which took at least two hours and our large table spend hundreds of dollars and did not get any attention and was not even able to flag down a server to take our order.  It was complete chaos.  I have a huge soft spot for the Citizen and Grange there since we stayed there before and after our wedding and woke to a room service breakfast sent by the most thoughtful friends ever.  Also, the bartender is great there although the drink list is totally boring.

Wow, I again missed Screature by about 20 minutes.  It's like god (or the devil) is causing me to miss this band. 

irritation

Lotta good stuff going on this weekend.

Phil Franklin's night at the Midtown Village Cafe, starts at 8, 1827 I st, donation.  Peggy Banks will sing, and boy can she belt 'em.  It's pretty amazing.  Then Buk Buk Bigups, which I think is just Phil and Aaron  now?

Tomorrow, Four Eyes show at Naked Lounge on H st (wow, lots of walkable shows for me!), uh oh, 8 dollar cover.  Sac is too cheap for an 8 dollar cover.  Me and smiller fight about this a lot.  He thinks all shows should be 5 bucks or donation.  I think all shows should now be 10 dollars since this is the cost of one mixed drink or one sandwich these days.  To put my money where my  mouth is, I will pay two dollars extra at this show.  Luckily, smiller does not read this blog anymore so I don't have to worry about this irritating him.  It's his version of letting yourself go after you get married, which is fine because I wear yoga pants about 80% more than I used to.  They are cute ones!  I predict that someone else will be irritated by this paragraph, though.  My point is, and I have argued it here before, that's it's not fair for show prices to be stuck at 5 dollars for the last 25 years just because of the existence of five dollar bills.  If 8 dollar bills existed that is what shows would cost.  Who could argue that that is fair?  And yeah, bands could make more merch but not every band is a band people want to wear tshirts for and not every band can afford to put out records.

Sunday is the True Crime thing at the Sac Living Library series at Time Tested.  It is going to be off the chain.  It was in the Bee and we know the mighty  power the Bee wields with the white hairs.  I would love to go but I never feel like doing that on a Sunday and I predict one would have to get there early to get a seat.  Maybe they should move to a bigger venue?  OMF has a strong personal interest in true crime, as do I. 

big sur!!!

Just got back from camping in Big Sur.  It's a shag there but the minute I get there it's all worth it.  I can sit on a cliff and watch the ocean there for hours.  The beauty of the morning light is only rivaled by the beauty of the evening light.  It is so hot there in October!

We had an evening of making up Grateful Dead jokes, so I will share my best one with you:

Q: What's the difference between a Deadhead with a tab of acid and a Deadhead talking about the Dead?
A: At least he might drop the acid.

There were a lot of other really good ones.  Some pictures after the break

leetle joke

How stoked am I for the new bike lanes downtown? Really stoked.  Even though the lines are not painted in yet, it's already way better to ride G st up to 16th, where the bike lane used to start.  9th and 10th are like a dream.  In fact, I am so stoked that I cannot even contemplate anything that is going on in the presidential race. I'm all like Pee-Wee Herman style, where I plug my ears and go "lalalalala" until it goes away.

Hear ye, hear ye, I am now proclaiming that I am absolutely going to Leap in the Dark tonight, despite my five hours of sleep.  Since I am saying it, if I were to not go I would be revealed as an old lady who never goes out anymore, which I am decidedly NOT.  So come party down with me, and bring me an adderall or vicodin so I can stay awake. Ha Ha I guess I am joking. 

violent post, sorry

A pet peeve of mine (I know you're thinking, "oh joy, another pet peeve") is when people, especially food writers say they're "obsessed" with something.  It's always "I'm obsessed with baking the perfect bread", "I'm obsessed with making the perfect omelette." (those are two really common ones).  Oh really? Here's the dic def of obsession:

1. Compulsive preoccupation with a fixed idea or an unwanted feeling or emotion, often accompanied by symptoms of anxiety.

2. A compulsive, often unreasonable idea or emotion.

 

It is also a specific psychiatric term:

 

 1. (Psychiatry) Psychiatry a persistent idea or impulse that continually forces its way into consciousness, often associated with anxiety and mental illness

 

OK, so we can all agree that it's hyperbole to use it all of the time, not to mention cliche.

 

I will not claim to be obsessed with the Miami drug culture of the mid-70s to 80s, but I am certainly damn fascinated.

 

1) Watch Cocaine Cowboys

2) Why the fuck has no one made a movie about the female Godfather, Griselda Blanco?  Is it because she was in hiding in Columbia for so many years so the movie wouldn't have a strong ending?  Well, guess what, karma is a bitch and she just got gunned down by one of her enemies.  So get writing, Hollywood.   I love gangster movies and she is the ultimate subject.  She was a fucking psycho, had good style, younger lovers, hundreds of millions of dollars, assassins who did things such as bayonetting a guy in an airport, etc.  She moved her operation from Miami to California, and then when she got busted she lived like a queen inside prison (got to have sex, wear whatever she wanted, etc.) and operated her drug empire from inside.  She started wars with other cartels seemingly for fun.  Oh yeah, and did I mention that she made a documented attempt to kidnap JFK junior so she could use him as a hostage to get out of prison?

Does anyone know of good books about this subject or about Mexican drug cartels?

Sammy Hagar's Rockin' Beach Bar and Mojo Dojo Cabo Wabo Wango Tango

Here is my review of SHRBBAMDCWWT, exclusive to Heckasac:

11 stars out of 5
dinner for 14: whatever amount VM put on his credit card

When you enter SHRBBAMDCWWT you are immediately visually caressed with images of the Red Rocker in flowing white pants and shirt.  He apparently sat for a photo session in this same outfit where he did such things as sit on the beach and pretend to cut, and even ride on, sugarcane stalks.

Why sugarcane?  Because Hagar is now primarily shilling Sammy's Beach Bar Rum, which raises the question: how much fucking money does this guy need?  A few years ago he sold an 80% interest in Cabo Wabo tequila to a huge conglomerate for 80 MILLION DOLLARS!! And meanwhile Davis Lee Roth is out there trying to become an EMT or martial arts instructor or whatever just to pay the bills. It ain't right.

Get ready for a shocker: all the food and drinks have a beach theme.  All of the drinks are sweet, and all the food has a sweet touch, perhaps to go with the general sugarcane theme.  Everyone just orders the nachos because why would you order anything else.  Out of the three plates of nachos I sampled, miller got screwed on his and they were the least good.  He will tell you all about it.  VM got a blue drink, I got two red drinks and two shots of cabo wabo.  It goes down as easy as a groupie on Hagar.

On the back of the menu there is a short explanation of Hagar's philosophy, including, "It's been a sweet life" (no fucking shit) and "a man is never so tall as when he kneels to help a child".  That latter statement has something to do with his vague children's charity which we were speculating might just be giving kids Cabo Wabo tshirts.

There is a downstairs bar area and then two upstairs areas with balconies.  Those are the best because you can look down on everyone, both literally and figuratively, and see the full extent of all the Roseville-based cleavage.  After an endless setup, a cover band took the stage called The Spasmodics.  They are kind of a like a poor mans Wonderbread Five, with a "nerd" theme that is cynically calculated and an offense to real nerds everywhere.

OMG I just discovered something amazing!!! This terrible cover band is just exactly copying this other, Texas-based band, down to the costumes!! WTF! It is def not them, because I looked at their calendar and they were in Austin on Saturday.  This is blowing my mind.

Anyhoo, this cover band did not cover any Van Halen songs (although they did do the Scorpions and AC/DC, again WTF), but on Thursday a band called Hot for Teacher played. 

In between the two sets, music was played, and after four drinks, of course I am going to start getting down when they play "I Keep Forgettin'"  What lady my age could resist that smoothest of jams?  A woman on the floor, who I had just witnessed smash a martini glass and then almost kneel in the broken glass spotted me up on the balcony, ran up, and started dancing with me.  Next thing you know, she is pushing her butt up to me against the balcony and slinging a leg over it to give everyone downstairs a full crotchal view.  I don't think tequila body shots were involved, but I cannot completely rule that out at this time.  Then, she gave me a hug and ran back down.  I think I can say that both of us partied fully in the spirit of SHRBBAMDCWWT in that perfect moment.

P.S.-Each table has a bottle of Michael Anthony's hot sauce, which is delicious and which traveled home in my purse.

reductive

oh man, I looked at my rundown so far on SNR and I am giving too many stars.  I can't tell you what a reductive pain in the ass stars are.  Part of it is that boom off the bat I reviewed some of my favorite places (Asian Cafe, Duc Huong, and Tacos and Beer, and also my favorite place in Davis last week (zen toro), and then my favorite old school place: the Willo this week).  I guess the big surprise for me so far stars-wise was giving 3 to firestone, just because they have pulled off a sports bar so damned successfully. the week after next (the 18th) I'll be reviewing a place that so far I'm surprised I like so much, so that will be another pretty starry review probably. But I am going to hit it up two more times.

enron

LOVED The Master. Loved.  Weird, not realistic in any way, not a single character is likeable or can be identified with.  I do not care. What an imagination Anderson has.  What acting.  Oscarworthy from Amy Adams (I was suprised) Phillip Seymour Hoffman and ESPECIALLY Joaquin Phoenix.  Insane. Loved the clothes and set design, too. A strange movie about very little, just up my alley.

!!! is playing tonight at Harlow's with G. Green.  I'm going to try so hard to go. It will be a valiant struggle.  If I do, I will probably have a cocktail at Shady Lady if anyone is down for that.

I saw the play Enron at Cap Stage.  It has a long run for them; I think until October 21st.  Definitely worth seeing although there are some problems, more with the play than the production.  It's a flashy play, with dancing and people in raptor masks (which is one of the most bad-ass parts) but it is too long and the last half hour or so loses the thread.  The playwright is a young British babe (31) and I am just biased about her ability to understand this American story that was going down when she was like 15 although I guess the blowup was when she was 19.  She has said she viewed it first as a musical, and then someone (teacher or something) read it and said it was a tragedy.  I don't see Enron as a tragedy, except for the workers who got screwed and they are barely present in this story. Only as tokens.  My biggest problem is with the composite female character.  She is wearing a horrible cheap blond wig, she has no range as an actress, and I don't think she fairly represents the women involved in this story, especially the only truly honorable figures - a women who blew the whistle and the female Forbes reporter who broke the story.  All of this will be so boring to you if you have no plans to see this play.

All of this is kind of a long-winded way to recommend the documentary The Smartest Guys In The Room, especially if you are going to see the play.

too damned big

Jesus H. Christ on a crutch, the croissants at Old Soul are so big they look like Dungeness crabs in pastry form.  That is just wrong.

Speaking of supersized things, bars have to chill with their giant martini glasses!!  How about you give me 4 ounces less of liquor and charge 8 dollars instead of ten?  I should not be drunk and get a headache from one Gibson.  I can't help that it's my favorite drink.  Maybe I will start bringing my own old-timey martini glass.  The Grange has the St. George gin, which has strong juniper and caraway notes, and pours slightly cloudy, probably from the rye.  Fucking great, and it only costs about 33 bucks.  I can't believe people pay bank for Sapphire.  Also, Grange has Drake's Aroma Coma on draught right now and it's delicious.  I'm so glad this beer is getting distribution. I think it's at Pangaea right now too.  If only it would replace the mediocre Lagunitas IPA on local taps.  I think Grange has North Coast Scrimshaw, the Lagunitas and Aroma Coma right now.

Smiller went to Nic's DJ thing and said it was fun.  I forgot about it and fell asleep by ten due to the giant Gibson.  Bummer.

get to know this good time guy

Nic is djing the Dive Bar tonight! Scroll down for details.  So cool! I wish I didn't have to work tomorrow so I could take advantage of the 5 buck Jameson shots.  I will try to drag my ass out there.

Midtown Village Cafe (formerly Butch N Nellies, formerly Mondo Bizarro) is doing some interesting stuff.  They are having Friday night month-long residencies of different artists.  This month it's Phil Franklin.  Do you know this guy?  You should get to know this good time guy.  Look at the line up for the month! The last Friday his partner, Christine Shields, is playing and I have mentioned before that she has put out a wonderful, wintry album.  A full-length LP that is cohesive and all good.  How rare is that in this day and age.  It's wintry as hell, so buy one in anticipation of cold weather, if it ever comes.  I'm sure she will have LPs for sale there.  Phil is putting together grab bags for attendees!

food and art

 food and art pictures today.  here is the chicken dish from Red Rabbit.  It was good, but don't you think it's time to move on from summer vegetables? I am sick of them.  But it is still as hot as summer.

 I cannot get enough of this egg burger with manchego.  Vega egg!  And a nice-sized green salad can be a free substitute instead of fries. With green goddess dressing.

 There is always some Chinese joint in the gas station directly across from my work.  The first one that I know of was Hometown Cafe, which has some Taiwanese specialties. They got props from Corti once in print and were successful enough to get a place on E st. in Davis.  Now it's Gold Something and it seems to be Shanghainese.  If that's how you say it. Nice dumplings.  Pictured above are the pork and cabbage. Those were some thick, homemade wrappers and were a tiny bit underdone, which is probably not typical.

 The guy told me to order the spicy wontons, which were garnished with chile oil and dried shrimp.  I got like 26 big dumplings for less than 12 bucks.  I ate so many!!

 I went to the Steve Hansen fundraiser at Hot Italian.  Their pizza is pretty good.  The bartender mixed me a refreshing Campari spritzer.  How can you not vote for a guy who would commission campaign signs from a bunch of local artists. Don't remember who this is.

 Nate, obviously

 not sure

 Ianna Frisby

 Gipoa Fonda

 um...Speaking of art, went to see the Cindy Sherman show at SFMOMA and I am still meh on her.  I saw the Film Stills at the MOMA a jillion years ago and was not impressed then, either.  A big gripe of mine is that they in no way resemble film stills to me.  That's not a small gripe since the usual copy on the series is how much they evoke film archetypes.  What archetypes? The housewife who has spilled her eggs archetype?  And film stills are often an action scene where something is happening, often with more than one character.  Would they really just be a woman sitting on a wall? Who would want to see a film because of that?  She has obviously been very, very influential but her work does nothing for me.  Her later stuff of society women is called either cruel or compassionate according to who is talking but I just see artifice and makeup.  It distracts.  And don't get me started on the clown series.  That's some juggalo shit.  It's not original to say that birthday clowns are sad or creepy.

New lamp from Scout Living! I love it.  I want to start buying this kind of hard 70s looking stuff (think slimy bachelor pad or Terence Conran) before it gets too expensive.  I was buzzed shopping which is dangerous. This lamp was 65 and it's very solid and well-constructed.